Reeling system



E. w. STACEY REELING SYSTEM Dec. '20, 1 932.

2 Sheets-Sheei l Filed Jan. 2, 1929 Dec. 20, 1932. E J E Y 1,891,273

REELING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 2, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 20,1932 UNITED STATES PATENT, Price ERNEST W. STACEY, OF BEVERLY,MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPGBATION, OFPATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY REELING SYSTEMApplication filed January 2, 1929. Serial No. 329,702.

My invention relates to systems by which extended lengths or webs ofsheet-material are'coiled upon reels to arrange the material forconvenient utilization. As herein disclosed, the invention is applied tothus disposing of sheet-rubber as it is delivered from calenderingapparatus. y

In coiling rubber as it emerges from calender-rolls, the practiceheretofore has been to lead the end to a reel, together with one or morestrips or webs of a liner or separator, and wind these together upon thereel. When the reel was filled and thus ready to be used or stored, itwas removed from its support and another reel substituted for therepetition of the coiling operation. Since it is desirable that theaction of the calender-rolls shall continue uninterruptedly and as theweb of stock advances from them at a comparatively rapid rate, andfurther since the reels are heavy and difficult to handle, aconsiderable length of stock, fifty feet or more, will have come fromthe rolls before the neXt reel is ready to receive it. This loose endmust be gathered up, severed from the advancing web and returned to berecalendered. Such a procedure results in a substantial loss of time.This invention has as an object the provision of a novel system forreeling material by which losses of the character just indicated will beeliminated. In the accomplishment of this object, I employ a movablesupport, preferably rotatable, upon which a plurality of reels arerotatable or otherwise movable. By this means, a reel which has beenfilled may, without delay, be carried out of its receiving relation bythe support, another supported reel being simultaneously caused toassume its receiving position. While this second reel is receiving thestock, the first may be removed and another empty reel put in place forlater use. Thus, the only delay is the very brief one required to shiftthe support. To prevent adhesion of the convolutions of stock to oneanother, it is customary to wind with it a separator and I thereforeassociate a separatonreel upon the support with a receiving reel,,.sothat the former reel is not only held in the proper relation to thelatter, but is also shifted with it in the rotation of the support. Whenthe it full reel of material is taken from the sup port and an empty onesubstituted, the now empty separator-reel may be replaced by a fullreel. I may preferto employ two separater-webs, as a slat-ted formation,which holds the stock without pressure upon it pro duced by the windingforce, and a continu ous web of relatively thin material. The

latter may be interposed between the first- 9 mentioned separator andthe stock, and prevents flaccid material, as rubber, from saggingbetween the slats into contact with adjacent turns, and also guards suchmaterial from being indented by the edges of theslats.

With this arrangement, one separator, as the slatted form, is firstconnected at its extrem ity to the receiving reel, while the secondseparator is joined to its companion. Means,

as a latch, retains the support with any one of the material-receivingreels in a position common to all, and in which the material isdelivered to them. I have shown the support as having opposite heads, inwhich are latch may engage the spindles of one of the two types ofreels, material-receiving and web-dellverlng, to effect the posltioningof alined depressionsto receive reel-spindles.

the plural sets of reels always in predeter- 8O mined relations.

In the accompanying drawings, in which n a particular embodiment of thisinvention is illustrated, I

Fig. 1 shows my improved reeling system in side elevation, parts beingbroken away;

F 2 is a broken perspective view of the attaching extremity of a slattedseparator;

Fig. 3 shows the means for securing this separator to a reel, the viewbeing side elevation and partly in section Fig. 4: is a broken endelevation of the reels I upon their support, but without the materialand separators appearing in Fig. l;

F 1g. 5 illustrates, in side elevation, the

means for mounting a reel-spindle upon the; 9 support; while F g. ,6 isa front elevation of the same elejments, partly in section.

At the top of a trestle or frame 10 having spaced side members arebearings 12, 121301,

partly in '90 the spindle 14 of a rotatable support 16. This support hasopposite heads, in the form of spiders, each with four arms 18 spacedfrom one another about the axis at equal angles and joined by a centraltube 20. At the outer end of each arm is a depression 22 transverselyalined with a like depression in an opposite arm to rotatably receivethe spindles of reels to be carried by the support. Two of these reelsA, A are upon arms separated by 180 degrees from each other, and receivethe material M to be coiled, while reels B, B upon the intermediatearms, similarly spaced, deliver a separator S to be wound with thematerial. The reels may be identical in construction, each having atubular core 24, and terminal flanges, at the ends of which are boltedsheet-metal heads 26. Into the opening through each core is forced aspindle 27 angular in crosssection, here shown as square. Each spindlehas, near its opposite ends, a cylindrical portion 28 adapted to enterany one of the depressions 22 and rotate therein. These journal-portionsmay be held against displacement from the depressions by pins 30 passingthrough alined openings at opposite sides of the depressions andremovably retained by spring-fingers 32 secured to the support andengaging the heads of the pins. To allow the separator S to be securedand released readily from the reels B, B, each reel has, near theopposite extremities of its core, a tubular socket 34. About theinterior of each socket is a groove 36 (Fig. 3) to receive a circularspring 38. The separator S comprises spaced chains 40, 40 connected by aseries of transverse bars 42. From the terminal links of the chainsproject studs 44, 44 having rounded ends and of such a diameter as toenter the sockets 84. About the body of each stud is a circumferentialgroove 46, which, when the stud is forced into the socket, receives thespring 38 and thus releasably attaches the separator S to the reel. Whenthe web of material and this separator are wound together, the formerrests over the bars between the chains in a spiral chamber, whichprotects its surfaces from pressure.

Since the soft yieldable material may not be fully held against contactbetween adjacent convolutions by the separator S with its spaced bars,or may be marred by the contact of said bars, it may sometimes bedesirable to combine with this barred separator a continuous separatingweb .9, which may be of relatively thin fabric treated to prevent theadhesion of such substances as rubber. Projecting from the heads of thesupport 16 between the pairs of arms 18 are opposite outwardly extendingarms 48, 48. Their outer extremities lie beyond the runs of theseparator S as it passes between the reels B and A. In the ends of thesearms 48 are mounted spools or reels 50, 50 of the separator s. Themanner in which the reels 50 are supported and retained upon their armsmay be the same as for the reels A and B. Near the corners of the freeend of each web .9 when it is coiled upon its reel 50, are sockets 52,which may be pressed into engagement with studs 54 carried by the lastbar of the corresponding separator S. Thus the separator 8 may beattached to the separator S and a reel A to advance when the reel isrotated.

The material which is to be coiled upon either of the reels A may bedelivered by calender-rolls R. A mass of rubber-stock 1', subjected tothe action of these rolls, passes between successive pairs and emergesas a ribbon or web M upon an endless conveyor C, the travel of theelements being in the directions indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. Fromthe conveyor, the end of the web is led upon the end of a separatorattached to one of the reels A carried by the support 16. To maintainthe chosen reel in its receiving relation, there is pivotally mountedupon each side of the frame, at 56, a latch 58, shown as weighted at 60to urge a depression 62 in its under side toward the path of theprojecting ends of the reel-spindles 27. In each spindle-end is formed aperipheral groove 64, each latch and its group of grooves lying in thesame vertical plane. When the latches engage the grooved portions ofeither of the spindles of the reels B, the companion reel A will becorrectly secured to receive the advancing material from the rolls R andconveyor C. Inclined surfaces 66, 66, situated upon opposite sides ofthe depression 62 in each latch and converging toward it, serve, underthe influence of the spindles 27 approaching from either direction, tolift the latch and permit its depression to fall into retainingengagement with the spindle.

I have shown the reels A as arranged for manual rotation to coil thematerial and separators upon them, a crank 68 being applied to thesquared end of the spindle 27 of the reel which is in the receivingposition, and turned by the operator.

In making use of the system, empty material-reels A, A are applied tothe engaging portions of opposite arms 18, 18 of the support and fullreels B, B of the separators S to the intermediate arms. Assuming thatthe separator s is also to be employed, reels 50 of this are placed uponthe support-arms 48, 48. The support is retained by the latches 58 withone of the reels A in co-operation with the source R, C of the materialto be coiled. At each of the reels A, the separator S, led from theadjacent reel B, is attached by the sockets 34 and studs 44. Theseparator s is joined to each reel A, through its connection to theassociated separator S, by the sockets 52 and studs 54. Now the web M ofmaterial fed forward from the calender-rolls R by the conveyor C isplaced by the operator upon assigns the separator at the alined reel A,and the crank 68 rotated in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. lof the drawings. In this manner, a coil of the material is formed uponthe reel, the convolutions being protected from one another by theinterposed separator or separators. This continues until the reel A isfull and the reels B and 50 empty. Thereupon, the latches 58 are raisedto release the support, this causing the unbalanced weight of the fullreel to turn the support anti clockwise (Fig. 1). This reel A will thusbe carried past the position in which its associated reel B was locatedduring the winding operation, and at least partially through 180 degreesof movement, there being but slight added effort on the part of theoperator required to effect this semi-rotation. This brings what was theupper reel B into the lowermost position, when the latches may bereleased by the operator and his helper, and contact of the spindle ofthe reel B with one of the surfaces 66 of each latch will raise this, sothat it will be permitted to descend into locking engagement with thegroove 6% of the spindle. There is now an empty reel A in receivingrelation to the material-delivering conveyor C, together with full reelsB and 50 with their separators attached to this reel A. The reel A, justfilled, with its empty separator-reels B and 50 are in the oppositepositions. After the advancing end of the web of material M has beenstarted upon the newly presented reel A and is being coiled thereon, thefull reel A and the empty reels B and 50 may be taken from the supportwhile the winding operation is progressing, and replaced by an emptymaterial-reel and full separator-reels, the ends of the separators beingjoined to the reel A, as already indicated. These await the completionof the reeling operation, whereupon the reversal of the reels may beeffected, as just outlined.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The combination with a frame, of a support rotatable upon the frameand having opposite heads provided with a plurality of pairs of alinedengaging means, a plurality of reels, each having a spindle heldrotatably upon the support by a pair of the engaging means and beingrevoluble by the support, and retaining means for the support movableupon the frame by the spindles in their revolution and arranged forretaining engagement with said spindles.

2. The combination with a frame, of a support rotatable upon the frameand having opposite heads provided with a plurality of pairs of alinedengaging means, a plurality of material-receiving reels, each having aspindle held rotatably upon the support by a pair of the engaging means,arms extending from the heads beyond the engaging opposite headsprovided with a plurality of pairs of alined engaging means, a pluralityof material-receiving reels, each having a spindle held-rotatably uponthe support by a air of the en a 'in means se arator-de- D h b 3livering reels rotatable upon the heads between the material-receivingreels,- and a latch movable upon the frame and arranged for retainingengagement with the spindles of one'of the two types of reels, said spindles being free for rotation independently of the latch during suchengagement.

4. The combination with a frame, of a support rotatable upon the frameand having opposite heads provided witha plurality of pairs of alinedengaging means, a plurality of reels, each having a spindle heldrotatably upon the support by a pair of the engaging means, andretaining means for the support movable upon the frame and ar- 'rangedfor engagement with the spindles of a portion onlyof the reels and to bemoved thereby for such engagement, the thus-engaged spindles beingfreefor rotation independently of the latch during such engagement.

5. The combination with a frame, of a support rotatable upon the frameand having opposite heads provided with a plurality of pairs of alinedengaging means, a plurality of material-receiving reels, each having aspindle held rotatably upon the support by a pair of the engaging means,separator-delivering reels rotatable upon the heads between thematerial-receiving reels, and a latch movable upon the frame andarranged for retaining engagement with the spindles of one only of thetwo types of reels, said latch being arranged to be moved by contactwith the spindles in preparation for such retention and leaving saidspindles free to rotate while thus retained.

6. In a reeling system, a movable support, a material-receiving reelprovided with a portion of a securing device and rotatable upon thesupport, a reel rotatable upon the support and containing a coil ofseparator having at its outer extremity another portion of the securingdevice attached to that portion upon the receiving reel, said sepa-,

curing device at its outer extremity attached.

to that portion upon the first-mentioned separator.

7 In a reeling system, a rotatable support, opposite material-receivingreels each provided with a portion of a securing device and rotatableupon the support, a pair of reels rotatable upon the support and eachcontaining a coil of separator having at its outer extremity anotherportion of the securing device attached to that portion upon one of thereceiving reels, said separator carrying a portion of a second securingdevice, and still another pair of reels rotatable upon the support, eachof said reels containing a coil of separator with a portion of thesecond se curing device at its outer extremity attached to that portionupon one of the first-mentioned separators.

8. In a reeling system, a rotatable support, opposite material-receivingreels each provided with a portion of a securing device and rotatableupon the support, a pair of reels rotatable upon the support and eachcontaining a coil of separator comprising transversely extending spacedbars and having at its outer extremity another portion of the securingdevice attached to that portion upon one of the receiving reels, saidseparator having mounted upon one of its bars a portion of a secondsecuring device, and still another pair of reels rotatable upon thesupport, each of said reels containing a coil of separator-Web with aportion of the second securing device at its outer extremity attached tothat portion upon the bar of one of the first-mentioned separators.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ERNEST W. STACEY.

